I considered the option of Rick and David taking out Wardog, but how do these fellas feel any confidence in attempting that when the whole problem is they went to Chris with a plan to take out a high value target, told him not to tell Wardog, and he went right to Wardog. They would have to fear he would do it again. There is danger he won't believe them or just wants to go try to straighten things out. Chris showed he couldn't be trusted. Attempting this move, when they would need Chris to pull it off...seems like a bad idea.

The other side of this is the inexplicable deference that seems to get paid to Wardog. I have no idea why he's meriting it. He seems like a bit of a meat head--like not horribly, but definitely in that direction. Yet many people in the tribe are going to him for strategy. I don't quite understand what is going on here. Is it possible they are happy to be aligned with him right now because they don't consider him a legit threat later on? Or does he really have their loyalty?

Also, Chris is athletic, seems likable, many people probably willing to align with him...he probably WAS the best target to remove from the game from the perspective of let's get rid of people who could be a problem for us in the future. Wentworth is an easy person to put out there as a target to any non-returning player in the game at any point in the game. So if Chris is being served on a platter right now, strike while the iron is hot.

Well played on the bold part/"reason for editing"!

I'm with you on the "War Dog is getting deference, but I don't know why" thing. From what I've seen, Rick is playing best strategic game on that tribe thus far, but it's a long way to go. SOOOOOO much going forward hinges on the realignment...if just one tribe of 5 has 3 from this tribe, it's a game-changer....assuming that Wentworth and Wendy aren't part of the three, as they will cannibalize one or the other.

It's always risky, though, to have a strategy of "we can vote him/her (in this case, Wentworth) whenever we want to, so we don't have to do it now."

+1

Lots for me to relate to for me; finding solace in the reliability of rationality, using a game to try to find meaning externally, finding that an ultimately fruitless pursuit, and ultimately discovering meditation as a very useful tool to get over all the neuroses.

Link for others who might be curious:

http://robhasawebsite.com/spencer-bl...of-extinction/

Comparing Wendy's chicken ideology to Thai's is laughable. Wendy is clearly an idiot. Thai on the other hand while not the brightest, is a man of principle and carries them out to their logical conclusions in-game. He has a loveable hippy-dippy personality. I also remember him getting a lot of hate and rightfully so in his season.

Aubry gets hate because she's unattractive, annoying and boring. Not a mastermind but navigates her way through the game with a strategic mind and makes few major blunders. If she played the exact same game but was smoking hot she would probably be a favorite in this thread.

I think they casted Kelly just to get the shots of her raging at the other Extinction contestants. Which should make for good TV. I just can't see her winning with her demeanor/ smugness as somebody else mentioned.

Seasons with returning players mixed with newbies SUCK! Don't have high hopes for this season but hopefully will turn around next episode.

I dig it. Especially since after tonight with the tribes at 9-6, there is a VERY good chance that they are going to go to 3 tribes of 5, so strength to win challenges should be taking a huge back seat to who are the tribe mates you trust the most.

They're in a lot of trouble, and they're going to have to rely on a lot of luck for them to have one of the new tribes be 3-2 in their favor, so that they can purposefully lose and finally get rid of someone from the other tribe. Of course, we've seen this backfire a ton in the past, so the 3 need to be super tight. As it is now, if, say, Wendy and Kelley end up on the same tribe, they'll probably still gun for each other.

I liked both of the fans vs favorites seasons (especially the first) and Philippines.

Yep. David's instincts are great but he is ignoring them this game.

I got the impression Chris wanted to keep Wardog as an ally as a shield for later on. You don't want to be getting strategic credit this early on in the game.

At this point, theyve stressed it so much on the show that this plan is going to come back to bite David. Chris probably tells someone on redemption island and then the twist ruins Dave's game

They have been on that island for almost a week and haven't built even a semblance of a shelter yet? How useless are these people.

they keep trying to get me interested in people who were already VOTED OUT

I'm not

David being voted out here would be poetic justice

how about Wendy the GOAT stepping in for Aubry to win the challenge

Wardog seems to be the swing vote here. David vs Kelley should get resolved

Well, unless they all come together and decide to just vote Wardog off instead. Btw not smart of him to show he understands math earlier in the episode

or itll be between neither of the people i mentioned. would hate to see rick get screwed by an idol here

i know it sucks for this tribe, but i do think whoever survives to the merge will have a decent chance because they do have these close connections and are battle tested, unlike the others. Joe seems super unlikely to ever go to a tribal before the merge. I think there's enough conflict in the other tribe, and the survivors of this tribe will be small enough in numbers, that they could go far. kind of like Malcolm/Denise that one season

damn. i had high hopes for Rick. that sucks. felt like he was getting an edit to go deep too, but maybe the edits are harder to judge now because of EI -- someone voted out early can still be around just as long

Rick was good TV

impressed Lauren sat on that hidden immunity idol

Yeah, but their clothes are probably all laid out to dry.

I was wondering if Lauren had been getting the purple Lauren treatment because she quits, but then she got a lot of air time tonight. But how is she going to last if she never eats?

I would say two of the most useless people in the history of the show. They seemed stunned when Chris actually did something of value.

I hate to admit, but Wardog is actually the smartest one out there

Thoughts while watching

- Pretty insane that the 5 of them ended up together
By my calculations, it's a 1/1,001 chance. Can anyone verify?

- this is actually a bad spot for them. They needed to end up with a 3-2 or 4-1 majority on one of the tribes so that they could purposefully lose. Not possible now. I suppose if the tribe that Wendy is on loses and she somehow survives, her ties to David and Rick could still be salvageable.

- Keith and Reem ****ing suck. Chris wasn't looking for sympathy from his blindside at all.

- Hey JCohen, sweet read on Wendy. She was totes kidding about freeing the chickens, huh?

-Good for Joe for actually trying to build connections and improve on his game this time around.

- Ron could potentially be really good. That reaction he had to his own bull**** when he said "That's the last thing I would want to do" was great tv.

- Wait, do Keith and Reem actually think that Chris is obliged to share the fish he caught with them? Wow Chris is a better man than I. I would enjoy those fish right in front of them and try to low-morale them into quitting. God, they're the ****ing worst.

- Wendy being a contestant that would rather be sent home than having a chicken die is just amazing. I'm not giving up on this cast because there are potentially some really good players among them but man did casting miss the mark on a few of them.

- Can someone make a gif of Lauren trying to get up the ramp? That was tasty.

- oh man poor Lesu. That's so brutal.

- Kelley is coming off super unlikeable this season.

- it's weird/impressive that David wasn't considered to be voted off tonight. Returning player, a strategic threat, and a challenge liability. He even mentioned at tribal just how many he'd been to. In hindsight, I wonder if Rick could've stuck around had he campaigned against David.

Wardog with the maths!

Lol Rick, lol David. Stupid move taking out Chris last week. If they had taken out Wentworth instead, they would have controlled this vote easily along with Chris, but instead, they're screwed.

At first, I thought it was stupid for Lauren not to use her idol when she knew she was one of the two names on the chopping block. But props to her, she had the right read; this could be results-oriented, but it seems like she really did know that Wardog would side with them. Which makes sense, given Wardog's decision last week. Which makes it even more lol Rick, lol David, since they should have been able to see this coming.

This. GET THESE PEOPLE OFF MY TV.

Yes, I think you and Wardog are correct. Wardog already gave the formula:

4/14×3/13×2/12×1/11 = 24/24,024 = 1/1,001 = 0.1%

Ron is getting the best winner edit imo, and is playing very well, from the limited info we've seen.

I don't think they know yet what the plan is. Could still be some tribe/team competitions or vote-outs or whatnot, once more people arrive. Probably best not to burn bridges even more, until you know what the plan is.

David sold loyalty, the others bought it. I doubt Rick could have changed it, the way things were shown.

The thing about David that I'm surprised by is that he's supposed to be very good at puzzles and even says he practiced every Survivor puzzle ever done, but he's just been brutal.

Did you miss the part where Ron was lying and just trying to hold him at the well so Julia could look through his stuff? Cool giving him credit for the very most basic task that any survivor player has to do though. Good riddance

How in the world do you think Wendy is bad casting? She has been phenomenal tv. Would you rather have 18 Chris’s?

Based on this episode?! What could she have possibly done to come off unlikeable in this episode?

You could say the exact same thing about Kelley tonight.

there was a swap though, and they lost Wendy who was a sure number on their side